Message-shell



C. SERRA.

MESSAGE SHELL.

APPLICATION FILED IAII. I5, 1920.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

C14/uo SEQ/len,

0 l 0; 00. 9.0 Viv zen of the United States of'America, re

MESSAGE-SHELL.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920..

Application led January 15, 1920. Serial No. 351,710.

To all w hom t may concern." Be 1t known that I, CARLO SERRA, a citisiding at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Message- Shells, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates' vto an apparatus for sending and receiving 'messages by means of projectiles and has for Vits object the provision of a message 'shell of such character that it may be despatched in any convenient manner as by an explosion of.

powder from a gunI or by compressed air or otherwise. The in-vention particularly contemplates the provision of a shell ofsuch character that it will, when received, at the receiving station, be accessible to the recipients and will not bury itself in the ground or otherwise damage itself so as to mutilate the message contained therein or render it necessary to excavate the ground for the received shell.

In order that the shell may be thus received, the invention contemplates the provision of a receiving station of such character that it will yield to the shock of the impact of the' received shell and also prevent a surface which will entangle certain entangling means on the shell so that the projectile will thereafter depend from the forward face of the receiving station in position to be accessible to the recipients.

The invention further contemplates a message shell having entangling projections which portion of the shell is removable from the remainder of the shell in order that the shell may be used again should the entangling projections be damaged, or be so entangled in the entangling means 'as to be impossible of being eXtricated therefrom.

Other objects will be set forth in detail in the accompanying specification and shown in the drawings in which- Figure 1 shows the receiving station with a number of shells entangled thereat and a shell in-ii'ight thereto.

Fig. 2 is a detail partly sectional view of the message shell.

'I`he shell comprises a hollow body portion lO adapted to receive the messages and having a removable closure l1 for one end thereof which is preferably threaded to the body portion. The shell has a nose portion 12 having a pointed nose and a plurality of entangling pins or projections therein 13 disposed between the' nose portion and the body portion. These projections have pointed ends and are arranged indiscriminately without regard to the direction of the points. The shank portions of the projections are preferably threaded into the rbody 12, and the outer faces of the projections conform in curvature to the curvature of the nose of the shell so as not to arrest or deflect the projectile in its flight.

The message shell. is projected from a cannon at the sending station which cannon may be of any desired form utilizing powder for propulsion of the shell or compressed air orother motive fluid. The shell has a rotational movement imparted thereto by the usual rotating bands 14.

The receiving station comprises a wall or supporting structure 16 forming a support for a series of spring buffers 17. In front of the spring baffles is a plate 18 to which is attached a cushion or mattress 19. Spaced forwardly from the cushion are vertical rods 20. To the front and the rear of the rods,20 are a series of superimposed blocks 2l made up of felt, wool or other suitable fiber interspersed with wire netting 22 which retain the mass of felt cushion material together and make the block more resistant to the passage of a shell therethrough. The blocks 21 are retained in position by clips 23 which are slidably mounted on rods 20. The construction described permits the removal of blocks which possibly may be so badly damaged by the impact of shells as to be worthless. The blocks can be independently removed so as to permit the rebuildingr of portions of the receiving station without tea-ring down the entire structure.

Passing through the blocks 21 from front to rear are a series of cords 24 made up of Ibraided linen or other suitable cord woven with wire. The cords are fastened in any suitable manner at the rear face of the rear blocks 21 and at the front face are frayed. out so as to form a series of depending tassels 25.

It will be understood that elements 17, 18, 19 and :21 as a whole form a resilient cushion or buffer at the receiving station to bring the shell to rest without fracturing injuring the same. l l

The shells approach the forward face of' the receiving station with a combined move 'nient of translation and rotation, and the rthe shell, or should the nose or pinportion tile having be damaged so as to require replacement,

the part of the nose portion l2 carrying the pins can be unscrewed from the threaded nose section 12a which forms a closure'for the front of th'e shell. A new pin carrying part can then be applied and the shell cias-v lng be useda plurality of times.

I claim:

l. A message shell comprising a hollow containerprojectile, said hollow portion of said projectile being clear of mechanism to provide the maximum saace for carrying messages, said projectile aving entangling pins which extend outward from the curved nose portion of the shell forentangling the shell at a receiving station.

- 2. A message shell comprising a projecreceive the messages, a removable closure therefor, and a plurality of fixedly mounted externally` disposed entangling pins which extend outwardly from the body of the nose portion, said pins being adapted to entangle in and suspend the shell'at the receiving station.

3. A message shell comprising a threepart projectile including a removable closure, a main hollow body portion and a a hollow interior portion t0- curved nose portion, and externally mounted entangling `ins carried by the nose portion for entan ing station.

4. message shell comprising a projectile having a hollow main part and a removable nose portion, and a plurality of entangling pins upon said nose portion `for ing the shell at the receiventangling and suspending the shell by the of the nose portion of the shell to reduce l the wind resistance of same when in flight.

6. A message shell comprising a hollow body portion and a nose portion, said nose portion having a peripheral recess, a plurality of entangling pins extending perpendicularly to the surface of the recessed nose portion and having their ends flush with the curved developed surface of the nonrecessed part of the nose portion, said pins being adaptedl to entangle the shell at a receiving station.

f In a message'shell, in combination, a hollow message carrying projectile, having a curved nose portion, a plurality of entangling pins extending substantially perpendicularly to the shell body at the nose portion thereof to entangle the shell at the receiving station, said pins being constantly extended, while the projectile is passing through the gun and while the same is* in flight.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

CARLO SERRA'. 

